enkai offkai
What a week. The days pass so quickly. I'm so busy, it never ends, it's so good, but I don't know where the days go. I need to take this next week to really lock myself down and get rid of things I don't need to hold on to.
I've been having some good joshikai (girls' nights out, basically, but not necessarily at night) lately, but they say you're supposed to do the whole opposite gender thing ... so...
On a whim? I forced myself to go to an off-kai (opposite of on, which is short for online) tonight -- dinner at a cafe in Shibuya. It was somewhere between what I expect an actual off-kai to be and a goukon (I don't think at an off-kai you're supposed to care about the male/female ratio or where people sit...), and in terms of age it was actually a good mix. There were close to 20 people total, I think.
We were all sitting, though, so really only got to talk to the people around me and then some more as we walked to the station. As per standard Japanese drinking party procedure, there was a seat change, too.
The first batch -- awkward shiftyeyed printing guy, wannabe model/actor from Fukui, Miura Haruma-esque pretty one with Bach T-shirt. The girls, who didn't move -- another Risa (a real Risa, she was cool! I regret not getting her info) in IT and Hiro the off-duty nurse. I spent most of the time talking to model/actor dude, who was interesting enough but not quite real, and yeah, guys who look like that can't be trusted (not hot, but pretty-- maybe like Yamada Shintaro)! At least half of the people were fairly good-looking, in any case. The other half were lost causes.
After seat changing, the group was much worse. Akiba guy who reminds me of one of Ogi-Yahagi, gross condescending old snakeshirt dude, and Niigata beauty salon guy were quite taken by Hiro-chan (being -chan-ed by a gross old guy is awful). Obviously snakeshirt guy thought he was the shit and overpowered everyone and kept asking questions and yeah, he kept it from being silent but not in a good way.
The food was extremely underwhelming (cheap, I guess) and after 2 hours we filed out and exchanged contact information with desired people at the door. I got model dude and printing dude and realtor dude (talked to him outside), but none of these are quite what you'd call a catch. On the way to the station I talked a bunch with Kagawa window selling guy who's younger than me and smokes and coughs constantly even though he's not sick. This was a better experience than most others, though -- less pressure than mingling a la CouchSurfing, and way better than 1:1 for hours with a boring person.
I really want to go to an actual goukon if for no other reason than to say that I have -- it's the next step!
I've been having some good joshikai (girls' nights out, basically, but not necessarily at night) lately, but they say you're supposed to do the whole opposite gender thing ... so...
On a whim? I forced myself to go to an off-kai (opposite of on, which is short for online) tonight -- dinner at a cafe in Shibuya. It was somewhere between what I expect an actual off-kai to be and a goukon (I don't think at an off-kai you're supposed to care about the male/female ratio or where people sit...), and in terms of age it was actually a good mix. There were close to 20 people total, I think.
We were all sitting, though, so really only got to talk to the people around me and then some more as we walked to the station. As per standard Japanese drinking party procedure, there was a seat change, too.
The first batch -- awkward shiftyeyed printing guy, wannabe model/actor from Fukui, Miura Haruma-esque pretty one with Bach T-shirt. The girls, who didn't move -- another Risa (a real Risa, she was cool! I regret not getting her info) in IT and Hiro the off-duty nurse. I spent most of the time talking to model/actor dude, who was interesting enough but not quite real, and yeah, guys who look like that can't be trusted (not hot, but pretty-- maybe like Yamada Shintaro)! At least half of the people were fairly good-looking, in any case. The other half were lost causes.
After seat changing, the group was much worse. Akiba guy who reminds me of one of Ogi-Yahagi, gross condescending old snakeshirt dude, and Niigata beauty salon guy were quite taken by Hiro-chan (being -chan-ed by a gross old guy is awful). Obviously snakeshirt guy thought he was the shit and overpowered everyone and kept asking questions and yeah, he kept it from being silent but not in a good way.
The food was extremely underwhelming (cheap, I guess) and after 2 hours we filed out and exchanged contact information with desired people at the door. I got model dude and printing dude and realtor dude (talked to him outside), but none of these are quite what you'd call a catch. On the way to the station I talked a bunch with Kagawa window selling guy who's younger than me and smokes and coughs constantly even though he's not sick. This was a better experience than most others, though -- less pressure than mingling a la CouchSurfing, and way better than 1:1 for hours with a boring person.
I really want to go to an actual goukon if for no other reason than to say that I have -- it's the next step!